Indians
had many types of weapons from guns, bows, lances, axes, war clubs and
knives. Warriors carried their scalping knives, but they didn’t always take
axes on war parties. Blackfoot warrior Weasel Head recalled,
”we carried no axes on war parties. But our sharp scalping knives were
as useful as any axe could be.” A warrior would take knives, shields (when on
horseback), clubs, and/or tomahawks, bows, lances, and guns. They might also
carry a powder horn, and a possible bag for balls and patches or bullets.
They also had a rawhide case for clothing and gear such as war bonnets,
quirts, sinew, awls, war paint bags, extra moccasins, pipes and tobacco,
robes and blankets.

Hunting was the primary way that
Plains Indians got food for their people. They hunted big game like buffalo,
elk, deer, and antelope or small game like rabbits. The Plains Indian tribes
wanted guns, but did not use them while hunting buffalo from horseback. Their
shots were more accurate with a bow and arrow or a lance.

The Plains Indians had become a horse
and bison culture by the 1800’s. They learned how to adapt to the land, and
follow the buffalo. For the plains tribes warfare
was a regular part of life. A young plains Indian could never expect to
become a man unless he engaged in warfare. It was important to protect their
territory and hunting grounds. They became adept at moving villages and
processing large amounts of meat. A woman could butcher three buffalo a day.
But even a skilled woman needed someone to help her with the meat, because a
man could easily kill more than three buffalo on a hunting day.

The most important meat in their diet
was the buffalo. People ate the liver, kidney, heart, tongue, eyes,
testicles, marrow from the bones, and cuts of meat. The meat was dried and
preserved or eaten right after the kill often raw. The meat was dried and
then pounded with hammers. Wild choke cherry juice was boiled with crushed
meat bones. After this mixture cooled, the grease was skimmed off and mixed
with the dried meat. Pemmican made this way could last for months and was
easy to carry.

The Plains Indians had to have sturdy
and effective weapons and tools.They
had to use the resources that were available in their area.They made tools and weapons from the
stones: they couldn’t rely on always being able to find the right wood for
tools.They did not yet have the
technology to use metal.The tools and
weapons were very efficient.To
research about Plains Indians and their weapons and tools, I visited a local
man who has been collecting and finding Indian artifacts for forty
years.Mr. Dudney
has many types of arrowheads in his collection.He has found many of the arrowheads around
Rossville and the Cross Creek and Kansas River
area.He looks around a water source
and along high ground where a campsite would not have been flooded.He usually goes searching after the farmers
have tilled the ground.He looks for
flint chips along the ground.He says
to always keep your eyes open, because you never know what you might find.

ARROWHEADS

Arrowheads are found in many sizes, shapes, materials and
colors.How the arrowhead looks
depends on the culture that made it, the area, the material, and the intended
use of it. Certain types of arrowheads are, however, more commonly found in
some parts of the country than in others, depending on the availability of
stone, the obsidian arrowhead and gem point made of agate, jasper and the
mere colorful stones are far more common in Oregon
and the Pacific Northwest, where these materials are
more abundant.In northern Colorado,
by contrast, obsidian deposits are difficult to find.An arrowhead made of petrified wood would
probably be more common in Arizona,
New Mexico or Colorado,
than a Great Plains state.An arrowhead made of quartzite might be
found in almost every state, because it is one of the most commonly available
materials.Chert
is also commonly found in many areas.

PARTS OF AN ARROWHEAD

The parts of an arrowhead consist of the point, body and
base.The bevel is the slope or slant
of the surface or face of the edge of the arrowhead at each side.Their notch type categorizes
arrowheads.The notching of an
arrowhead makes it different from other arrowheads.Arrowheads are classified into seven
categories: side notched, bottom notched, corner notched, corner and bottom
notched, side and bottom notched, stemmed and bottom notched, and notchless triangular or notchless
stemmed. Most tips are the same, other than the flaking pattern.

HOW TO MAKE AN ARROWHEAD

The materials that arrowheads and knives are made of are
very hard, the harder the stone the better the point or blade will be.The Indians did not have steel or hard
metal to gouge out hard stone; many people thought that a strange process was
used to make the tools.Material for
points are found in natural pebbles found along creeks or it is broken from
rocky ledges of flint, novaculite, jasper,
chalcedony, chert obsidian, or other hard brittle
stone.A piece is held in the left
hand and struck a curving blow with a hammer-stone.The hammer-stone trims off the chips on
one-sided at a time, or both as the nature of the stone and its shape
dictates.Chipping the stone requires
directing the blow in the right direction and using the right amount of
force.The blow causes a shell –shaped
chip to come off. The chipping process continues until the stone is takes its
general shape.To finish the process a
bone or antler-chipping tool is used to press off a small flake. It takes
great skill to cut in the barbs of the edge.

Pressing out a small chip, turning the blade over and
pressing in on the other side, does this.The process is kept up by alternating the direction of the chipping,
from side to side, until the notch is deep enough.Many products were ruined before they were
finished, because flint breaks so easily.

STUNNER ARROWHEAD

The stunner is a type of arrowhead.Mr. Dudney said
the stunner was used to stun an animal that the hunter did not want to
kill.Some tribes did not believe in
killing certain animals, like an eagle.An eagle might be stunned so that feathers could be collected.But some collectors think the stunner was
used hafted onto a short shaft and used as a knife, gouge, or scraper for
removing marrow from bone.

POISON POINT ARROWHEAD

A poison point arrowhead could be any arrowhead that was
used to poison an animal as well as pierce its skin.Most poison points were notchlessan triangular shaped so the arrowhead could detach
easily and remain in the wound in case the shaft of the arrow should be
jarred lose or fall.The arrowhead
would be soaked in rattlesnake venom or decayed meat.Some people speculate that another method
of poisoning was to imbed an arrowhead in an animal liver and the place it on
an anthill, while the liver decayed, ants would bite into it.

BIRDPOINT ARROWHEAD

The birdbpoint arrowhead gets
its name from its small size and that it was thought to be used to hunt birds
an other small prey.At one time, all small arrowheads were called birdpoints.But a small arrowhead if properly placed
can kill a large animal.This would be
true, especially if several birdpoints were shot
into the animal.

THUMB SCRAPER

A scraper could be used to clean a hide, bones and other
similar materials in the making of food, clothing or weapons.Any good-sized piece of flint material
could be used as a scraper.A thumb
scraper usually has a perfect place for the thumb to fit.It is usually no beige than a fifty-cent
coin.

THE KNIFE

The knife was an essential tool used for cutting meat,
hides, wood and food.It could also be
a formidable weapon.A knife was a
weapon, tool and eating and cooking utensil all in one.An Indian could use it to put up dwelling,
mend moccasins an clothing, make arrows, skin animals, clean fish, build
traps, scrape hides, take scalps.It
never left the Indian’s side.It was
either carried around the neck on a rawhide string or sheathed at his side.This simple instrument could be crucial in
a life or death struggle with man, beast or the elements.Mr. Dudney has a
tang knife.He said that it was one of
his favorite finds.He took it to the KansasStateHistoricalMuseum and they identified it.It was worn around a male Indians neck on a
piece of rawhide. It was a utility knife, like a pocketknife.Mr. Dudney found
the base of the knife.Every year he
returns to the field where he found it, hoping to find the tip of the knife.

THE MAUL OR HAMMER

The maul was made from river rocks.It was grooved for hafting onto a handle
and used like an ax.It is different
from an ax, because it has a blunt or rounded end.It can weigh from one to twenty
pounds.Mr. Dudney
told a funny story about his wife and his hammer.She asked hm what
it was and he told her about it.He
came home one day and found her using it to hammer in nails.She said she couldn’t find a regular
hammer.He asked her “What the hell
are you doing?”He couldn’t believe she
would do that.

SHAFT STRAIGHTENER

A shaft straightener is used to
straighten the shaft of the arrow.The
shaft is usually made from branches of wild cherry, birch, ash, chokecherry
or willow trees.This wood is harder
and more durable that others.The
braches usually weren’t perfectly straight and had knots.The shaft straightener
was used to smooth out the imperfections and make it straight.It was usually made of sandstone, because
it is abrasive.Mr. Dudney’s shaft straighteners is doughnut shaped.Running the ring up and down the shaft until it was perfect used it.

THE GRINDING STONE

The grinding stone is usually made out of a smooth well
worn river rock, because it would be more comfortable to use and not hurt a
woman’s hands. It could be used for long hours and not cause a lot of
discomfort.It is usually oblong and 4
to 6 inches lond and 3 to 4 inches wide.It was used to grind corn, berries, or
seeds to be used for cooking. Mr. Dudney’s grinding
stone was unbelievably smooth, from being used so much.

THE PIPE

Pipes are an important symbol to the American Indian.It is used for both secular and ceremonial
purposes.It was usually brought out
for group functions like, war rallies, trading, ritual dances, healing
ceremonies, marriage negotiations, or to settle a dispute.Tobacco was considered a gift from the
supernatural powers to man.The smoke
from the pipe would carry the prayers to their destination.Pipes were made from catlinite
or pipestone. In the United States
it can only be found in Wisconsin
or Minnesota.The Dakota Sioux gained control of the
mining of pipestone in the 1700’s. Therefore, pipestone could only be
acquired with permission from the Sioux.

Mr. Dundey’s pipe was brought to
this area by the French explorers to trade.The KansasStateHistoricalMuseum
verified its authenticity.Part of the
pipe is broken off.Mr. Dudney keeps looking for the rest of the pipe.

UTE CEREMONIAL WAR CLUB

A friend gave Mr Dudney this artifact.The friend told him that his great-great
grandmother was a friend with a little Ute girl that stayed at the cabin
during the winter.The little girl was
sick and had been left with the white family for the winter.In the spring, her family came back to get
her.As a gift of thanks the white
family was given the war club.The
club has a horses tail tied to it and the handle is covered with leather and
the end is a round rock with leather.The rock is about the size of a baseball.It is special piece in his collection.

It is always exciting to find an Indian artifact.It is a mystery to think about who had made
the arrowhead or how was the knife used.Exploring an ancient culture and learning its history has been
interesting.Keep looking at the
ground and sifting through dirt because you never know who has been there
before and what they may have left.